


All Might And That One Time He Got Reborn

by Marnie27



Series: Crack Pairings [2]
Category: One Piece, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: All Might becomes a pirate, All Might is All Might, BAMF Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Crack Crossover, Crack Relationships, Crack Treated Seriously, Fix-It, Fluff and Humor, He punch real good, Idea by Blaze146, M/M, New World (One Piece), Nothing underage, One Piece Universe, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Reborn - Freeform, Reincarnated with all past abilities, Reincarnation, Strangers to Lovers, Toshinori reborn into One Piece world, Toshinori tries to be a good hero where there are none, Toshinori ‘what do you mean pirates are a thing’ Yagi, Yeah that’s right this ship again, beat people up, break your promises, comments make writer’s heart go doki doki, follow your dreams, he has no idea what’s going on, it’s not really a tragic backstory but man it’s not a good one either, oblivious but not stupid, one piece shenanigans, transmigrated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29045316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marnie27/pseuds/Marnie27
Summary: In the world of My Hero Academia, people are persecuted for being born without a quirk. In the world of One Piece, it’s the opposite.(In which All Might is reborn into One Piece with the quirk One For All. No, he doesn’t get it either.)
Relationships: All Might/Heroics, Izou/Thatch (One Piece), Portgas D. Ace/Yagi Toshinori | All Might
Series: Crack Pairings [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130867
Comments: 15
Kudos: 97





	1. Toshinori grows up in a tiny village in the middle of the sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Might is reborn on a little unnamed island in the middle of nowhere.

Toshinori grows up in a tiny village in the middle of the sea. There’s not much to the village. It’s tiny and the trees are big. It doesn’t have a name. There are a lot of houses, and the population is...  relatively kind to him. Toshinori loves it.

From the moment he can walk he decides that this new place he has been reborn into is kind. He decides it’s his home.  And some people can make that sort of acknowledgment and continue without faltering, but in his last life, he was All Might . He  nearly gave his life for his home.

This is his home now, and the deal carries on. If his new home is ever threatened, he will protect it with his life.

And that’s a promise.

..

Toshinori doesn’t look like the people in his village. The people around him all have brown hair and very dark eyes, and the only thing he has in common is his pale skin. His mum doesn’t look like him, and neither does his dad. People say that his appearance is impossible. He thinks so too, but there isn’t anything he can do about it.

Instead, he decides to make up for the uneasiness by being the best son he can be!  He makes sure to do things before he’s  been asked , he endeavours to pass milestones before the rest, and he speaks  fluently as soon as he can . He wants to impress his parents, his villagers, his home.

But after a while, he realises that he is not looked upon well because of it.

They see him as weird. Many people don’t like him, they look at his mum  weirdly , and some people move out of the way of him when he toddles by. He makes sure to smile at them when he can. He smiles wide and shows his teeth. He puts his hands on his hips. One day he will say ‘I am here’ and people will feel safe.

People  are allowed to be wary, it’s understandable. He’ll wear them down. One day they’ll look upon him and smile back. He holds the hands of his mum and dad and toddles along a worn street. When he looks up he makes eye contact with a dark-haired elder who looks at his blonde hair with distaste. 

One day, the village will welcome him despite how odd he looks and behaves. That’s his goal. He will protect his home with his life, and the village will be a safe, comfortable place for all. He looks back at the elder and with a toothy mouth, he grins.

..

He can walk from one side of his island to the other in  just under a day. The village lets its children roam  freely from the moment they can walk. As long as adults are around, then they can go there. That can only stop Toshinori for so long. When Toshinori is three, he wanders away from his parents to one of the many island’s beaches. It’s one surrounded by cliffs and the sand is filled with pointy rocks. People don’t like to go there, but Toshinori has always wanted to visit. So he does, even if regretfully it’s against the rules.

His home is an island.  The water around him is wavy and chaotic, and if he looks long enough sometimes he swears massive sea-snake-like creatures pop out of it . In the distance the water is smooth and still. He makes it a habit to wander over to the edge of the island and watch the creatures when he can. But he’s a good kid, so he makes sure to be back by sunset.

One day he sits next to a few kids on a sandy shore, (they’ve wandered over to one of the smaller more visited beaches), and he hears a young boy gasp. The boy points out one of the monsters to his sister. “Woah! Did you see that?”

The young girl shakes her head but when another monster pops out of the water, she gasps too and waddles back to falls on her butt . She starts to cry. He notices how the children’s parents collect their crying children when they notice the monster go back down into the water. Toshinori can’t help but notice the islander’s fear and unease at the monsters in the following days. He watches the fisherman retreat at high-tide. He notices all sorts of things, and they all show one big truth.

The islanders are afraid of what’s outside. 

Toshinori is not. He sees an adventure. He will protect his home from these monsters so that one day none of them will be afraid. He will be their hero.

He looks beyond the tiny island in the middle of who-knows-where and smiles. 

..

The next week, he turns four. It starts as a quiet day. His mum sings songs in the kitchen while his dad gets ready for a rough day of farm work. The mood is joyful, and there’s a promise in the air that speaks of celebration. Toshinori sits at the window and watches the seagulls sweep over the waves.

And then, something incredible happens.

He smashes his mum’s vase. 

(It’s an accident. Mum knocked it off the table and he  fearfully punched it out of the way. It erupted into a million pieces and some of it is stuck in the ceiling.)

Mum holds her arm to her chest, and he notices that it’s bleeding.

Toshinori  is meant to be a hero, but all he can feel is guilt and fear. He thinks of Nana, for the first time in a while. He thinks of Gran Torino.  But  mostly , he thinks of his mum, who now looks down on him with the same expression that most of the islanders give him .

“Toshinori,” she breathes  softly . “I don’t understand.”

He’s sorry. He’s  really, really sorry. 

This wasn’t meant to happen.

..

Toshinori has always lived in a blurry sort of remembrance. He has always known that he has lived twice and that he was All Might as well as Toshinori before. It’s only as he sees the blood pour from his mum’s arm that he starts to remember more faces. It’s not like he’s ever forgotten the faces — it’s more like they’ve been getting a back seat to  all of his new discoveries. Not to mention the bustling nature of his new life. But now the faces keep flashing and flashing at the front of his mind.

Young Midoriya, Nana, Gran Torino, Sir Nighteye, Nezu — the list goes on and on.

“I’m sorry,” he can feel his eyes start to tear up as his mum looks upon the room and himself with scorn and fear. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

His mum seems to draw in on herself then. She speaks to herself in a muffled tone, and he doesn’t think he  is meant to hear. “A mother’s love is unconditional,” are the words that come out of her quivering mouth.

Toshinori holds his arm close because there’s a mild sting in it. It’s in this moment that he  truly allows himself to see the features in her face, that are so different from his. The flecks of black in her brown eyes. Her straight, dark long hair. He’s  truly an anomaly on this island. “A mother’s love is unconditional,” his mum repeats to herself. Toshinori’s heart is in that stagnant sort of air that means that he’s waiting for the pin to drop.

He knows that this will change their dynamic. He doesn’t know how it will,  however . He is fearful.  He has always committed himself to the fact that he will have to win over the islanders because of his uniqueness . But his mum has always seemed to love him regardless of what he’s like. So has his dad. They look upon him with a wary sort of love.

“A mother’s love...” she kneels on her two legs, and no glass cuts into her. Everything  was punched away from where Toshinori is. The only risk of injury now is the glass that still sticks out of his mum’s arm. He looks at it in guilt and self-disgust, but his mum doesn’t spare it a glance. She tugs him forward into her arms, and Toshinori can feel himself start to tear up.

“Unconditional,” she finishes to herself. He cries, even if he knows he should be strong because he  was scared and now he’s relieved. The straight line of her mouth  is pressed against his neck. He doesn’t stop to contemplate whether the hug is warm or not. He  just cries, and lets his arms hold her close.

“I’m sorry,” he stammers out. “I’m sorry!”

..

A doctor  is called to their house, and the man picks glass out of his mum’s arm. Toshinori looks on with guilt in his eyes. “How did this happen?” The doctor sounds flabbergasted as he pulls out fragments with a pair of long tweezers. “This one  narrowly missed  being lodged in your bone!”

“It was Toshinori,” his mum says after a while, and something in Toshinori falls. “He punched a vase, and some of it went so far it got stuck in the ceiling. Some went into my arm, and some into the hard floor across the house in the kitchen.” It’s not the words, it’s not even the way she says them, because he knows it’s the truth. It’s because when it’s said aloud, it nails down into him the fact that on this island, he’s  truly a monster. 

He is the one who punched it. He did it. He injured his mum, he did something that no one else could do. It’s ironic, in his last life he had wished night and day on his fourth birthday for a quirk, but now, he wishes that it’d be taken away. He doesn’t need a quirk to protect his island, does he? It will be helpful, but... not now. Now it only serves as a way for others to look at him in an even harsher way. It’s another tally line to mark him as different.

The doctor hears what his mum has to say and looks down at him in slight fear.  There’s also something that Toshinori can see in his face — it’s hidden in the creases of his eyes, and the slope of his nose as he peers down it — that he can’t identify by name . All he knows is that he doesn’t like it.

The doctor doesn’t look at him again during the visit. As Toshinori watches his retreating back, he can’t help but feel challenged. This island is harsh at times, as are its people, but Toshinori is a hero. He will protect civilians. Even if they look down on him like dirt on their shoe.  Even if he is, as he can sometimes overhear from behind curved hands, a monster,  just like the monsters he sometimes sees outside in the ocean . 

One day he’ll save them, and they’ll look at his back with awe instead of disgust. But... also, even if they won’t grow to like him, he’ll protect them. Heroes don’t choose the people they save, they save as many as they can  indiscriminately . He watches the door close on the man who gave him that look. It still makes him feel sick inside when he pictures it in his mind. 

  
He feels himself fill with resolve.

..

That day, his family has an  oddly silent birthday dinner. He goes to bed with sea-monsters on his mind, and determination in his soul. He will be a hero! And he will be the best he can be.

There are no beaches here to clean up, but he doesn’t need that to be strong. He  just needs inner strength and commitment. And he’s got loads of that.

..

He grows up. 

Some days are hard. Some days he thinks of Nana, or Young Midoriya and wonders how they’re doing. Some days the scowls upon him feel so harsh that he has to sit on his lonely beach for hours on end.  He can recognise some of the sea-monsters now, and he learns from his dad in passing that they’re called ‘sea-kings.’ 

Some days it’s like he‘s never had a past life. He’s so busy training or helping out at the farm that time passes in the blink of an eye.

It’s always at night that he looks up at the ceiling and remembers who he is, and what his goals are. Things become harder as he gets older. He’s ten now, and the looks from the people around him are getting worse. He’s an anomaly, he’s odd, and he understands their fear of his whispered about abilities. He doesn’t feel anger towards them. 

His parents do what they can, and sometimes a small part of him whispers that it isn’t enough, but he makes sure to squish that part of him down . He’s selfish. One day they’ll treat him like they did before he was four again, he’s  just resigned to knowing that first, he’ll have to earn it. So he trains hard, and his arms get bigger, and his parents talk in stilted (if polite) sentences to him and days go by. He ages, and so does the world around him.

He spends a lot of his time at the village farm. It’s massive and filled with every sort of vegetable you can imagine. Most of the farmers treat him  nicely —  they like him. He likes them too. 

“It’s not his fault he’s a bastard,” he overhears one day from behind the pasture. “He’s a good boy.”  Toshinori stills himself and feels something fall, but he also holds up his chin, because he knows that courage can help him with anything .

“Poor lad. But I do wonder who is his father!”

One of the farmers laughs, “well it’s not anyone on the island, that’s for sure. It’s no wonder the boy’s father hates him... but it’s a shame, a real shame.”

Toshinori clenches his fists and looks up into the sky. A seagull squawks and he watches it saw from the farm and to a cliff that hides a beach and a bit of the ocean. The corners of his lips stretch to the sides of his face in a familiar grin, and he puts his desired courage to use. He laughs, his signature laugh, and he notices the two farmers nearby blanch at the sound of it.

One day... one day...!

..

One day, he is seventeen years old and he stands on his beach of the tiny unnamed island in the middle of nowhere. He is the strongest he’s ever been. He will get stronger. He towers over the islanders, and he lives on the outskirts in a modest little house.

People appreciate him for the strengths he offers the village. He stands close to them and offers support where he can. Many have grown to like him, some have grown to adore him, but some wariness remains. Despite time, a vast majority are uneasy around him. Toshinori has completely made his peace with it. 

A sea-king raises out of the water and he turns to watch it, but it’s as he turns to get a better look that he notices a small ship.

He hasn’t seen a ship before. Not in this life, at least. People don’t like sea-kings, and there are far too many around the island. The waves are too strong, and the weather is too chaotic. He’s noticed that in the distance the weather is smooth, but he asked one of the bakers about it once and they said that it was dangerous to sail there because the bigger sea-kings lived there.  


He squints  slightly , and his perpetual smile thins  just a bit, but the ship doesn’t fade like a mirage. Instead, it grows.

It grows and grows and then it’s only as he recognises in his  barely uncomprehending mind that it’s coming closer that he panics . His toes are twitching in the sand.

Toshinori has trained all his life to be a hero, but he has never  truly needed to be one until this moment. He doesn’t know if he will have to be one soon. He will be able to if he has to. 

He considers warning the islanders but decides against it. If the people who are arriving — because it’s definite that they’re arriving — are a threat, then he will take them out.  He won’t call islanders to panic or watch, because he’s long since recognised that he will not defend the island for redemption . He doesn’t want them to  be scared . He’s very capable.

He will defend the island because it’s his home. Because he’s a hero! 

The grin spreads  widely , and as the ship comes close enough for him to see hundreds of silhouettes peering forward, it only grows larger in an unspoken challenge .

..

When the boat finds shallow water, it’s far out from the beach and Toshinori can make out every face on board.  All of them are looking  directly at him — at his easy confidence, wide grin and stance, and the two hands perched on his hips . In an ideal world, he would have his suit on, but in this one, he has shorts and a blank green t-shirt on. Green has never been his colour, but it reminds him of Young Midoriya.

“Hey!” One of the men yells out, and Toshinori’s eyes move to focus on a man with bright yellow hair. He wears a purple shirt, open at the front that shows an odd tattoo.  The same design is on the flag of the boat, and Toshinori’s head whispers ‘pirates.’ The more rational part of him scoffs that they’re not . Because pirates don’t exist. “Are there docks nearby?”

But... some of them look very pirate-like. He starts to sweat. If an island of quirkless people exist, then why not pirates? 

“There are not!” He says in a booming voice. Even with a lack of effort, his voice booms across the water to the ship. It’s not said in a threatening way, but the way Toshinori stands implies that he is very much a threat. 

“You mind if we anchor here?” 

Toshinori raises his chin ever so  slightly . “What are your intentions?”

There’s some scattered laughter,  however , some look serious. There’s a large combination of reactions  really , but Toshinori is more focused on the man who is speaking to him. 

“Well,” a man with a very odd red protruding hairstyle raises his voice, and Toshinori’s eyes flicker to the left. “It’s not to marry your island,  certainly !” 

Toshinori scans over his words, and he  instantly feels his cheeks heat up a bit. He forces it back down and moves back to stare at the man in the purple shirt. The man feels his gaze and  quickly yells over the scattered laughter, “to dock here and rest for a bit, yoi!  Maybe shop and replenish supplies.”

He looks over the man’s face from the distance. There’s a steady silence. Some laughter is still teetering off, and with a touch of hesitation, Toshinori nods. The man seems honest, and Toshinori is good at reading people. 

Nonetheless, the man doesn’t speak for the rest of the... pirates... so Toshinori will stay closer to the village than usual today.  Just in case. Despite the army of men, Toshinori is confident that he can put up a fight. He’s the strongest he’s ever been.

He’ll only need a couple of well-aimed punches.

Toshinori watches the anchor hit the shallow beach and turns on his feet. He finds the familiar worn path, and  warily makes his way to the village to warn the islanders. 

There’s a splash, but he doesn’t turn back.

These are the first outsiders that Toshinori has ever seen in this world. He’s uncomfortable with them being around the people he’s sworn to protect. He doesn’t know how this world works  in terms of criminals and security. But he also knows that part of being a hero is to trust and to believe in people.

He can feel eyes from many on his back as he retreats from the beach.

..

“Holy fuck,” Ace says to Thatch as the man on the beach walks away towards a worn pathway, “look at his muscles.”

Thatch makes a show of looking concerned. He turns to Ace and gives him his full attention. He then puts a hand on each shoulder and sighs. “What’re your intentions?”

Ace grabs both of his wrists and throws him overboard. Thatch cackles on the way down.

..

The island doesn’t  technically have a leader, but it does have an unofficial one. That would be the island’s sole doctor. As one of the smartest, he oversees how things go. He is currently working on passing down his medical knowledge to one of the young boys in the village.

This is who Toshinori goes to. The doctor eyes him with the familiar look of wariness. “Yes?”

He sits on his porch with a blank bound book on his lap. He holds a piece of charcoal and the black dust clings to his fingers.

“A boat has come to the beach,” Toshinori says with a large resting smile on his face. “Hundreds of people are coming to the island to rest, shop, and collect supplies.”

The old doctor looks far from pleased, which  is expected . His shoulders hitch up and a look of outrage fills his expression, “why are you smiling? This is no time to smile! How could you let them come to shore?” He  instantly rocks to his feet and places down the book and charcoal. The book closes with a snap.

Despite the disapproval aimed at his grin, he keeps it fixed on his face. “They don’t look harmful.”

“ Maybe not to you, you buffoon.” Toshinori only laughs.

The old doctor cups his mouth. “Everyone!”

Many people who are bustling around turn to face him  curiously . Everyone knows of his status as the unofficial leader. It’s  been built on the unchallenged respect aimed towards him by all. Even the visiting news coo turns to face him. News coos don’t like Toshinori. Well, more like ‘the’ news coo. Only one ever comes to their lonely unnamed island.

It’s a shame since it means that the lone newspaper  is passed around countless times until it is illegible. Toshinori is always the last to get it, but he knows that if he asks he could get it earlier. He  just has an unfortunate habit of forgetting to.

“A ship has arrived on our shore!” 

There are a few gasps, and one lady drops a basket full of flowers. Toshinori considers running over to help her, but it doesn’t look like she’s even noticed.

“Hide your children and don’t act hostile! Now, go.” Everyone scatters. The doctor turns to face him and even though Toshinori is much taller, he still manages to look down his nose at him.

“Now, you.” Toshinori stands to attention, “have they already seen you?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“A shame. Hide in your house until they leave. You never know how dangerous outsiders can be.”  Although Toshinori isn’t the most popular in the village, he is still an islander, and as such he‘s treated with a reasonable amount of respect .  The doctor encourages him to hide and not risk  being harmed by the visitors, but doesn’t realise that Toshinori is able to defend himself .

He says as much, “I can defend myself, Doctor!” His grin spreads wide as if to show his strength. Toshinori flexes his arm to nail in his point.

“Gah,” the doctor scoffs, “ just don’t let your foolishness affect anyone else.” He turns away without another word and picks up his book and charcoal. He disappears inside his house.

..

Toshinori’s house, on the outskirts of the village, is on the opposite side of the island from the shore where the pirates came . It's near the edge of one of the islands' many cliff sides, and it has a great view of the ocean. It’s there he goes after informing the village. He opens the wooden door and steps inside.

He made the house himself, and it’s filled with all sorts of bits and bobs. He’s made a lot of the things inside it too. It’s nice to carve something or knit something when watching the ocean, not to mention it’s a good source of income.  It’s in one of the drawers that he finds a cheerful-looking shirt with a happy looking pineapple hand-sewn in the corner near his right leg .

It’s a bright shirt, and he hopes that the colour will make him more approachable than the dark green shirt he greeted them with . He’s always wanted more people to talk to. He thinks that it’ll be interesting. His smile turns softer and more natural.

He’s excited! 

..

The village on Toshinori’s island is less of a village and more of a... small collection of half a thousand people.  It’s for this reason that when Toshinori jogs into the village, he can see word of the pirates still  just spreading around .  From his tall height, he can see unfamiliar faces among the islanders, and excitement builds in his chest .

“Hey! Hey you! Wait up.”

He turns on his heels and finds himself looking  slightly down at the man with the odd hairstyle from the boat. The man wears a chef's outfit and stands  confidently next to a dark haired boy with freckles.

“Hello!” Toshinori bellows, “what seems to be the problem?”

“No problem,” the chef grins  cheerfully , “ just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Thatch, and this is my sweet little brother Ace! How long’ve you been on the island, I didn’t see another boat around here. Not that we’ve explored the island yet.”  Ace looks at Thatch and shoves his shoulders, muttering about how he could introduce himself .

He blinks. “I’m Toshinori, I was born here.” 

“Eh?” Thatch hums, interested. “Where’d you get your features from then? You don’t look like any of the islanders.”

He laughs, “I was born to two of the islanders!” Toshinori starts to walk down the familiar street and Ace and Thatch start to walk beside him. He notices them exchange a look but  politely doesn’t say anything. 

New people are exciting! They don’t look like the islanders at all.  Toshinori has lived two lives, and so he has definitely seen appearances that don’t have the typical dark hair and eyes before, but it‘s been a while . Out of the corner of his eye, he focuses on Thatch’s odd hair yet again. It’s very eccentric! 

Although he doesn’t know if he reserves the right to comment. His rabbit-ear hairstyle has followed him as well as the one-for-all quirk, after all.

“So Toshinori,” Thatch speaks up again and Toshinori  politely tilts his head down to take in his words. Ace has remained quiet throughout their exchange. “Have you ever heard of the Whitebeard pirates?”

“I have not, Thatch!” He says it with his familiar vigour. 

Ace makes an odd coughing noise, and Toshinori twists his face in concern.  He hopes that he’s not sick, as the island’s doctor most likely wouldn’t take kindly to having a visitor to his house so early on .  Maybe their ship has doctors? He hopes for his sake that they do.

Thatch grins, “no? Nothing at all?”

“This island is very isolated,” Toshinori explains. He steps to the side and purchases a bundle of yarn, which he tucks into one of the pockets of his pants. He can’t make his own, which means that he has to  frequently replenish his supplies now and then. It’s red, too, and he doesn’t already have this colour so he’s pretty excited to use it later. “We rarely get visitors, let alone news or gossip.”

“I saw a news coo earlier,” Thatch hums, “and they’re in there quite a lot. They even printed about that one time Izou got sunstroke.” Toshinori doesn’t know who Izou is. Should he know them?

“His name is Polly, he’s our lone news coo. He visits every few months.”

“And you’ve never heard about them?”

“Not me, but  maybe some of the other islanders,” Toshinori considers a bundle of fresh fruit at a stall. The lady behind the stall is paying attention to the conversation and isn’t trying to hide it. “But I don’t read the newspaper. Is there something important about these ‘Whitebeard pirates,’ Thatch?”

“Well, I guess,” Thatch sounds  relatively astounded. “‘Cos you're looking at some right now.”

Oh. In his other life, he may have known all about a boat or organisation of people underneath a(n assumed) popular flag. It had been his job, after all. But this is not his other life, and so he does not. 

He makes an interested sound in his throat. He grins down at them, and the lady passes over a bundle of fruit in exchange for a few coins.

With the bundle of fruit in his arms and yarn in his pocket, he has completed  all of his necessary shopping!  Ace and Thatch do not appear to  be interested in shopping, so he leads the way to a communal area where he sits on a large stone amidst some grass . The two of them  naturally slink over to the stone opposite him.

“We’ve got a lot of members,” Thatch says. He then changes the subject, “so what’s the island like?”

Toshinori laughs, and it booms across the marketplace of the village. Some people look over but  not many of the islanders bother to spare a glance. “It’s an amazing place!” He announces, “and a fantastic home. Have you looked around much?” They haven’t been there for long, but while he was changing shirts  perhaps they surveyed the area a bit.

“Well no, but —“

“Oi Thatch, Ace, you're meant to be buying supplies for the ship, yoi!”

The man in the purple shorts wanders over to where they’re sitting and stares down at them.

Ace opens his mouth and responds with a laugh . “We’re in the marketplace, aren’t we?”

“But not shopping.”

Thatch pouts, “but Toshinori is so interesting!” Toshinori blushes, “we’ll get to it  eventually .” It’s said without a lick of sarcasm, and he’s not had to deal with this sort of praise in a while. Even before he hadn’t been able to deal with praise too well.  Eventually , it had come to a point where he’d skim over the praise with nothing but the habit of thanking the person.

Before, he had taken praise for granted, even if it flustered him at times. As the number one hero, people spoke to him with respect and kindness. It was rare to not  be spoken to that way. It had  quickly become the norm in his later years. But now it’s fresh, and he can feel his ears turn red. He  just knows they’re red.

The man seems to notice Toshinori’s presence and  apologetically smiles at him. “Hello, yoi, my name is Marco. I’m the first division commander.” Toshinori has no idea what that means or entitles but he nods as if he does, “I see you’ve met Thatch and Ace. My apologies for anything they may have done.”

“ _Hey_!” Ace says  loudly , “we haven’t done anything!”

“Yeah, _hey_! We would _never_ —“ Thatch continues  angrily , but not  seriously .

Marco deadpans. “Bullshit.”

Toshinori smiles because it’s easy to see that these three have a lot of personality. They get along well, and theyve  probably known each other for a long time. Looking over them reminds him of his first days as a teacher.  Looking over Young Midoriya and his classmates and recognising that not only do they have personality, but they also have entire lives behind their faces . And  perhaps that’s weird to think outright — because of course there are people behind faces! But meeting new people is sometimes something you don’t think much of.

Like Young Midoriya and his classmates, Thatch, Ace, and Marco each have something to them that screams that they’re  frighteningly unique . Not like how all people are  inherently unique, but  incredibly beyond the norm! Toshinori finds it interesting, he hasn’t seen these types of people in a while. It’s nice. Refreshing.

The islanders all act in a way that echoes each other.  Toshinori is the lone islander that stands out, and  maybe that’s because of  just his colouring and his abilities, but it’s true nonetheless .  The three pirates stand together and have a conversation while Toshinori  politely surveys them .

Thatch ribs Marco and Marco nudges him back, and Toshinori aches.  If the three in front of him set the tone for their hundreds of friends on the large boat, then they’re  certainly a rowdy group ! 

“Sorry about that, yoi,” he hears, and he’s pulled back into the conversation. Marco looks at him, apologetic. “Have you met many of my brothers before these two idiots?”

“Oi,” Ace grunts.

“I have not,” Toshinori says  politely . 

“Hey,” Ace speaks up a bit louder, and Toshinori turns his attention to him. “Have you ever been on a ship before?”

“I... have not. This is the first I’ve ever seen one.”

Ace gapes, and Thatch gapes with him. Marco sighs and  lightly knocks their jaws shut, to their annoyance.  Maybe to others having never seen a ship is remarkable, but to Toshinori it’s  just how life is here on the island. The island exists at times to be in a sort of stasis. He watches the world go by, yet not much ever seems to change. New things don’t get introduced often.

The island has always been sort of like a dream-world to Toshinori. Sometimes it feels like he doesn’t age. He does, of course, but everything seems stagnant. 

“What?” Ace verbalises, “I’ll show you around the Moby Dick right now! Come on,” he gestures  frantically for him to follow him. Toshinori looks  bemusedly at Thatch and Marco as if asking for permission. He sort of is.

Marco stares as if to gauge his character, but soon shrugs and waves him off when it’s clear that Ace is walking already and not looking back . Toshinori nods  politely to Thatch and Marco and hurries to catch up to him.

“Would you like me to look after your purchases for a while?” Marco asks him  just before he’s tugged away.

“Ah, yes! Thank you!”

“No problem, yoi.” He  lazily takes the groceries and settles back to talk to Thatch.

“Can't believe you’ve never seen a ship before!” Ace speaks to him with a taken-aback expression after Toshinori catches up. “I’ve been wanting to sail in one for as long as I can remember. I dunno if there was ever a time I didn’t know what one was.”

“Ah, I knew what a ship was!” Toshinori scratches his chin, “we  just don’t usually have ships come by very often”

“I’m not surprised. This island is near the end of the New World, and practically in the calm belts at that. But still,” he shakes his head, “it’s just...”

“Bizarre?” He suggests  helpfully ,

“Yeah, that! You’ll love it once you see it closer. I know you’ve already seen it, but the inside is even cooler! It’s called the Moby Dick.”

Ace waves to a few pirates that greet him  cheerfully as he walks by.

“What you doin’ Ace?” A man calls out to him  curiously .

“Showing Toshinori around!” 

“Ha!” The man calls after them as they pass, “go easy on him! I kinda wanna go back now and see his reaction to Pops.”

Toshinori wonders who this ‘pops’ figure is. He weighs up them either being the leader of the bunch, or an odd-looking pet.

Ace turns to him after a short walk down back to the beach. “Here it is! We can take that dingy there up to it, climb aboard.” A row of tiny boats cover the sandy shore.

Toshinori smiles  politely and  neatly rests himself into the boat. An oar is  haphazardly chucked at his face, and he eyes it for a second before dropping the large flat end into the water. He takes a moment to remember which way to move it so that the boat propels forward. He  quickly notices how Ace moves another oar to the left of him and follows his lead.

“How long have you been a pirate?” Toshinori asks him.

“Ah, around three years. It’s great. You ever thought about being a pirate?”

“No,” he says  easily . “I’m happy standing as a protector for my island. I’ve never considered anything else!” He grins.

“Oh? The people on the island must respect you a lot, then! It looks like you try hard.” Ace gestures to his muscles and Toshinori feels pride build up in his chest. It’s true, after all, he has worked hard. 

“I do my best,” he says  modestly .  “But seeing as your crew are the first visitors that we’ve received in a while, my protection has never been necessary .”

“How good are you at fighting — paddle a bit harder for a second, we need to go left.”

“Ah, sure! And... I am very good at fighting.”

“Then we should have a spar later.”

Toshinori  happily helps move the boat to the left, “that sounds great. I look forward to it!”

The small dingy bumps into the side of the Moby Dick, and Ace ties it to the side and  quickly hops over to a ladder hanging from the deck . He looks back at Toshinori and gestures for him to follow, then climbs up. Toshinori does so and watches  absently as Ace stretches his back at the top.

The islanders are all much smaller than Toshinori. These pirates that he can see on the boat, and the ones back on the island too, don’t always follow that rule. Toshinori has always assumed that likewise with his past life, he would always tower over everyone around him.

Now he can claim that he’s at an average height. It’s a bit disconcerting looking around, but it’s also comforting in a contradicting way. In his village, he has always stood out, but here he can blend in quite  easily .

“So this is the deck,” Ace announces when Toshinori reaches the top. “And those are my shitty brothers.”

A few men wave at them, and Toshinori waves back but can’t help but notice that there isn’t much if any family resemblance between these so-called ‘brothers.’ He's pretty sure one has gills. He mentions this to Ace as he’s guided through some sort of lounge area .

“We’re not related by blood,” he explains. “But we’re family. Our crew has brothers and sisters and our captain is Pops.”

“Ah, I see.” So ‘Pops’ is not a pet. He mentally jots that down. “Where is this ‘Pops’?”

Ace grins, “so you’ve heard of him?”

“No?” It’s lilted as a question because Ace seems so sure that he would know the man by his name. But he doesn’t have the slightest clue who he is. He doesn’t even know for sure whether it’s a man. He’s assuming it’s a man, as the word ‘Pop’ tends to  be used to refer to old man figures in families, right? But for all Toshinori knows, it’s their mum, and the word ‘Pops’ is a nickname. It could be short for something like _Popcorn_ — well! You never know!

Toshinori has been on the bad end of misunderstandings way too many times to not err on the side of caution.

“You’ve never heard of Whitebeard?”

This feels a tad repetitive. “No, I have not heard of Whitebeard.” 

“Well shit,” Ace turns around to face him  fully , and a large amused grin breaks out across his face. He laughs a bit, “you’ll love him. Wanna meet him?”

He supposes he can’t refuse. “...Sure,” he gives in. He hopes that the man is like the pirates that he’s met so far. 

“Let’s go now!” He turns around and gestures for Toshinori to follow him a bit faster. Toshinori almost misses the way his grin turns playful. He fidgets  nervously but quickens his pace.

The Moby Dick is a gigantic boat. It’s one of the biggest Toshinori has ever seen. It’s only slightly smaller than the Titanic — well, he’s guessing the size of the Titanic because he’s only seen the movie and not the original. But if he were to compare it to another boat, that’d be the one. Toshinori had never been a boat person in his last life after all, and that’s carried on to now. He’s developed a larger (not that it was small before) appreciation for the ocean, though.

The Moby Dick has countless rooms, and one of the doors that he looks through is ajar enough for him to make out beds lined up on the wall . Hammocks, mattresses, there is a mismatched hullabaloo of everything. It’s very _eccentric_ if he could give a word for it.  It’s not  just the bedroom setups, it’s the occasional scratched drawing in the wood, or sentences that  are inscribed like ‘ _Morty was here and he thinks Ollo has a tiny cock_ ,’ or ‘ _Dennice this is your daily reminder to stop eating so much ramen or ur gonna get hypertension )-:_ ’

It’s also the occasional paint designs, and the carpets and the items  just laying around. Books, crossbows, pants. It’s like a Wheres  Wally book, without  Wally . 

The Moby Dick is something, but what makes it is the people. They’re loud and confident, while others are contrasting and demure. There’s a whole range of personalities. A familiar ache develops in Toshinori’s chest, and he remembers UA.

UA, like the Moby Dick, had a large range of personalities. But it was much more uniform. There was no graffiti, that wasn’t tolerated, and things were always clean and tidy. 

Both of the places are comfortable.  Toshinori can feel something in his chest settle in the Moby Dick, and he thinks  absently that if it were to ever come down to it, he’d like to live here . But he has a duty to his island first. To the doctor, to his mum and dad, and the farmers and the storyteller and the children and the elderly... he will never leave.

Ace and Toshinori  eventually reach a stop in front of a massive door.  Toshinori has noticed the large ceilings and gigantic living spaces, but this door is one of the only doors he’s seen so far that matches the proportions . The doors to the kitchen are similar in size, now that he thinks about it. 

“Here we are!” Ace turns to face Toshinori one last time and  cheerfully places his hands on his hips. “You ready?”

He is most  certainly not. But he is a brave hero, up for any challenge, “I am!” 

He smiles. The door opens. He is sweating in his boots.

“Oi, Pops! Come meet an islander we’ve found, he’s the one from the beach, and his name is Toshinori. Pops, Toshinori. Toshinori, Whitebeard.”

There’s a shuffling noise, and Toshinori  is urged inside and the large door shuts behind him.  They stand in a massive room, with large furniture, and a few people are relaxing around the sides and conversing . A few have stacks of paperwork in front of them, and others  are spreadeagled on the floor playing cards.

A few women in nurse uniforms are running around, dotting in and out of a door off to the left of Ace and Toshinori. But they’re not what Toshinori is focusing on.

“Guahaha!”

A man lounges in the centre of the room, in the sunlight. He is massive. _Holy_ — and Toshinori thinks this in the politest way possible — _shit_.

Toshinori smiles up at him  cheerfully . He makes sure to tilt his head to catch the light  _ just _ _so_ , so that a twinkle effect is around his eyes. It gives of airs of confidence. He  is terrified . 

How much milk does this man drink? Is he on some sort of drug? Are there stilts underneath his pants? Toshinori  is confused . The man is smiling down at him. Toshinori smiles back. He is still terrified.

A few people around the room look around to focus on him and Whitebeard. 

For the first time in his life, Toshinori questions the world he was reborn into. He had looked past the sea-kings. He had looked past the lack of quirks. He had looked past the weather patterns and the exotic-looking plants and animals.

But there’s no way he can look past the massive man in front of him. Really, he can’t. He’s too big.

He catches himself. He is All Might. He is the number one hero. He is strong and in his prime. He does not need to be afraid. Size is one thing, strength is another!

“What do you think about my sons?” Is the very first thing Whitebeard says to him, and Toshinori can already start to get a grasp of his character. It’s odd, to contrast this sunny-sounding question with his ominous presence. In his chest is budding respect.

He speaks truthfully, “the people who I have run into... they’re very polite people.”

“Guahahaha! Is that so?” 

Toshinori  just grins for lack of knowing what else to do. He doesn’t know where to put his hands. Heroics may be one thing, social situations are another. They’re both smiling at each other, and it’s kind of weird. He feels like a miniature version of the man in front of him.

Whitebeard continues to smile, but all too  suddenly his facial expression turns serious. Toshinori blinks.

“I don’t know much about your island. Tell me about it?”

This is a question that he knows how to answer.  “It doesn’t have a name,” he doesn’t know whether to say ‘sir’ or ‘Whitebeard’ or ‘Whitebeard, sir,’ so he resigns himself to never referring to him by a name to his face . “Not to my knowledge. It’s got a handful of beaches and many cliffs. There is one large farm and a small mine, and the village is big.”

“Hmm. And what about the people?”

“They’re good people,” he says  simply . 

Whitebeard surveys his face as if looking for anything that strikes him as something to be wary of . But Toshinori seems to be alright enough, as Whitebeard then laughs  easily .

“I see. What do you say to my children and I anchoring here for a few days?”

It’s not within Toshinori’s jurisdiction to tell him yes or no. “I don’t see a problem with it,” he says  slowly . “But I’m not the one you should be asking.”

“Oho? And who should I be asking?”

Toshinori can feel himself feeling a bit more comfortable in front of the giant of a man. His shoulders  slowly ease, and his smile starts to feel more real. Their conversation is casual more than anything else.

“We don’t have an official leader. But we do have a doctor, in the centre of town. People usually go to him for answers to problems.”

“I see. Well then! I’ll send Marco to go and ask.”

Ace speaks up from  slightly behind Toshinori, “thanks for not pinning it on me!”

Whitebeard scratches his chin and turns to face him. “Didn’t even notice you were here.”

“Hey!”

A few crewmates laugh, and Ace huffs an exaggerated sigh.  Toshinori looks at Ace’s expression and soon enough he’s laughing  boomingly , and he receives a few startled glances . Whitebeard takes one look at Toshinori and the effect he’s had on the crew and joins in.

It’s very loud. He likes it here.


	2. Ace walks, like Toshinori, in a confident way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace nearly sets All Might’s house on fire. All Might pulls a Moses on the ocean to get out of a conversation. Politely, though.
> 
> (And finally, I challenge the whole stupid idea of loyalty to a village that doesn’t like you. (This is because of Naruto, by the way. I have way too many bones to pick)).

  
Ace walks, like Toshinori, in a confident way. Perhaps it’s the way he bounces through some of his steps, or the self-assured way he swings his arms. It speaks of strength, and Toshinori can’t help but believe that Ace could have made an amazing hero.

  
“So whereabouts do you live?”

They’ve just walked out of a cafe, and Toshinori is still reeling from the amount of food Ace has just consumed. His face betrays nothing, but internally he is questioning how Ace’s stomach isn’t stretched to epic proportions. Maybe he has to eat that much to keep up with a hard training routine? Ace certainly looks like he trains a lot.

And the oddest thing is that at one point it felt like Ace was gearing up to run away without paying the bill. But he had taken one look at Toshinori and had settled down into the seat more comfortably. It may have been a trick of the light that made Toshinori see that in him. Ace is too polite to have considered running like that.

“Around there,” he dazedly points to somewhere around the tree line a fair distance away. And it certainly is a fair distance away — it would take ten minutes to walk all the way there. The village is very bunched up, yet his house is a silent far away presence.

“Why do you live so far away?”

People feel uncomfortable with him around. He looks too unfamiliar, and his strength is alarming. “It has a good view of the ocean,” he settles for cheerily. It is the truth, but it’s not a truthful answer. 

Ace nods as if it’s the wisest thing he’s ever heard. 

Toshinori then catches onto the conversation and looks to Ace curiously, “would you, uhm, like to visit?” He twiddles his thumbs a bit and the sight makes Ace do a double-take.   
  


Toshinori watches nervously as Ace seems to cough to himself, and he can almost hear the word ‘cute’ come out of his mouth. It’s too muffled to be sure. He frowns. He really hopes Ace isn’t sick. He’s very close to suggesting for him to visit the doctor.

“Sounds great,” is the muffled reply he receives.

The two of them wander down one of the familiar cobbled paths to Toshinori’s little house.

They had been stuck together since they left the Moby Dick. Toshinori had half expected Ace to hurry off and find his brothers after the tour, but to his surprise, he had stuck to him and cheerfully asked him about the best place to get food.

Toshinori leads Ace around a few tall trees and to a familiar wooden house. 

“Nice house you’ve got here,” Ace comments.

Toshinori thanks him and opens the door. The inside is a mess. He digs into his pocket and withdraws the yarn he purchased earlier. He has to remember to find Marco again to get the fruit he had bought. He makes a mental note of it, only to turn and find them sitting on his table.

Well! A bit odd, but it’s convenient. He has no idea how Marco knows where he lives, but it was nice for him to drop off his purchases here for him regardless. Very kind indeed. That doesn’t stop him from staring at his table like a plucked chicken, though.

“You have a lot of hobbies.”

Toshinori turns around to meet Ace’s eyes, “yes! I very much enjoy them.” He hesitates and then lifts the corner of his shirt to show the little picture he had sewn a while back into it. “I sewed this.” He doesn’t know why he’s showing it to him. He’s proud of it, he supposes? Not to be boastful but it does look very cute...

Ace points at it with a smile, “that’s pretty cool! It looks like Marco.” He compliments easily, “I’ve seen Izou sew before but I’ve never gotten into it. I can’t do a lot of things like sewing ‘cos I end up setting fire to stuff.”

Toshinori blinks. That’s odd. “‘Setting fire to stuff?’”

  
  
“Oh, yeah!” He speaks as if he’s forgotten something. “Like this!”

And then Ace’s hand catches on fire. 

Toshinori’s eyes fly wide open and his smile slips like a kayak off a waterfall.

Toshinori had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he alone has a quirk — but this makes it clear that this isn’t the case. Perhaps his island is isolated and hasn’t developed quirks... but that would imply that quirks are genetic and that wouldn’t make sense. From what he knows, quirks showed up one day out of the blue _everywhere_. 

He doesn’t understand. It’s like with Whitebeard, and his odd size — maybe he was reborn into a different world. It sounds silly. He doesn’t know what to think about that thought.

He has to double-check, “you have a quirk?” He blurts it out very brashly.

Ace tilts his head, his hand is still aflame. “Quirk?”

Toshinori ignores the question momentarily to grab a fireproof blanket to muffle the flame. He quickly puts it around Ace’s hand, and Ace stares down at the towel-like fabric in amusement. “Oh, sorry!” His hand returns to his form. 

Toshinori pauses, two hands holding Ace’s hand around a towel, and awkwardly leans back but keeps his hands where they are. He apologetically frowns, his pulse is racing and he half expects Ace’s hand to burst into flames again. Ace eventually looks up to meet his eyes with a very amused expression, and he knows that he should remove the towel, but he’s in a wooden house. He’s been around Endeavour for too long to not be cautious around fire hazards.

“Sorry ‘bout that, I won’t do it in here again. Wanna let go?” 

He can’t say no to that, so he does. But Toshinori also keeps the towel on standby, just in case. He is feeling completely fine. His world-view has _not_ just changed. Nope.

Ace isn’t even _singed_. The blanket isn’t either. He is dreaming.

Toshinori clears his throat after hesitating. “You... have a quirk?”

“What’s a quirk?” Ace asks, “and no? It’s a devil-fruit power.”

“A... devil-fruit power?”

“Yup. I ate a devil-fruit and now I’m a flame man.”

Toshinori isn’t smiling.

“I don’t understand.”

“Well,” Ace draws out, “the Grand Line has fruit with cool abilities once you eat them. I ate one and now I’m made of fire.”

He doesn’t understand still. “You are... made of fire. And you didn’t develop the ability after you turned four?”

Ace looks irrevocably confused. “Huh? Four? Wait... do you have...?”

Toshinori has known for a while that he may very well be the strongest man in the world. But the fruit that Ace speaks of challenges that. He implies the existence of more. And if so, he has no idea how these ‘devil-fruit’ work. He claims that he has no idea what Quirks are, and out of many people, Ace should. He travels the world, after all, he said as much at the cafe while he was decimating a bagel.

Quirks, he now knows for certain, _don’t exist here_. In their place are devil-fruit which can grant powers once eaten. If that’s it... why does Toshinori have his quirk? It doesn’t make _sense_.

But then again. It doesn’t make sense that he was even reborn here in the first place. There are things that the world just doesn’t or can’t explain, and he is one of them. That doesn’t make him comfortable in the slightest. One For All is with him, in his system. It runs through his blood. It shouldn’t be.

Maybe... he had ingested a devil-fruit unknowingly?

But that doesn’t make sense. His quirk... because it _is_ a quirk, as he’d discovered it on his fourth birthday. Surely if it were a power granted by a fruit it wouldn’t have that timing. He remembers the vase falling in his direction, and his teeth tense. Perhaps it is a devil-fruit ability that had just never been needed until that moment?

He doesn’t _know_. 

Toshinori busies himself with the knick-knacks on his shelf, steadfastly pretending he doesn’t hear the open question in the air, and that he isn’t still holding the fireproof blanket in his left hand. “Alright,” Toshinori says, “perhaps you should go back to your family. It’s getting late.” He kicks himself mentally and slowly brings up his signature grin. It shines as if it had never vanished.

He turns to look at Ace, who is staring at him in a very confused fashion. 

Ace doesn’t let it go. “Wait! You don’t have a weird power or ability do you?”

Toshinori doesn’t stop smiling. He moves to usher Ace politely out of the house. He guides him to the doorway at a slow urging pace. Ace looks like a stubborn man, but Toshinori is All Might, and despite his lacking ability in social situations, he isn’t a pushover. He doesn’t know how to answer the question, because he doesn’t know what response he might get. So he chooses to say nothing at all. Inside he’s screaming, but on the outside he appears as happy as ever.

  
  
He should be more polite...! But...

“Toshinori?”

“Have a good day!”

Ace stands outside looking at him in confuzzlement.

The door closes behind him.

In the privacy of his tiny house, Toshinori sits down and allows his smile to fade once more. _He isn’t in his world anymore, is he?_ This is confirmation.

..

He’s never explicitly planned to go home or to try and find his old friends. He’s always known somewhere deep down that they’re all gone. A long time ago, he had made peace with the fact that he was someone else now, and had a different life. Even if his friends did exist, Toshinori had been reborn as someone else. He hadn’t wanted to abandon the place he grew up in.

Yet... even if he hadn’t explicitly acknowledged it and only hinted at it internally — he had thought that there was a possibility that he would see them again. Maybe briefly. Maybe...

Now he knows for certain that his friends are gone. There is no going back. It’s not an option. 

  
..

Ace thinks there’s something off about the people on this new island. It’s not ‘cos they look super weird or anything. Nah they all kinda look the same. But because of the odd glances they sometimes aim at them. Ace finds himself munching on takoyaki somewhere near the marketplace thinking about Toshinori and his weird reaction to his fire, and can’t help but notice how the islanders keep on looking at him and his brothers and sisters in a scrutinising way.

But that’s not what Ace finds off about the whole thing. He and his brothers and sisters get weird looks all the time! It comes with being Whitebeard Pirates. It’s not really appreciated, but hey, what can ya do? The off thing is because now that he thinks about it, he’s pretty sure Toshinori had been getting those same glances earlier!

And he could’ve chucked that up to Toshinori also being an outsider, easy to assume since he looks and sounds different from the other islanders, but Ace remembers Toshinori admitting that he had been born here. He’s probably grown up here too.

Perhaps his parents had immigrated here or something?

Well, that shouldn’t have mattered anyway. ‘Cos Ace knows that the glances aren’t nice, and even if Toshinori looked different, he was still an islander. The glances kind of remind Ace of the looks the nobles at Goa used to give him and Luffy and Sabo. 

Another weird thing is even though they look at Toshinori like that, Toshinori seems to love his island and the villagers regardless. It’s one-sided. 

Ace knows that Toshinori has lived here all his life. He can tell from the way he’d greeted some of the villagers by name when they were walking through after visiting the Moby, not to mention how cluttered his house is; it’s filled with projects and mementos. If Ace were to only focus on Toshinori, he’d see a happy, loyal, comfortable islander but that’s just _weird_ in these circumstances. It’s not as if Ace and Luffy and Sabo had loved the nobles back after _they_ hated _them_! No one would ever like the nobles, they suck.

He takes a decisive bite of his takoyaki. He’s going to try and find Toshinori again tomorrow. Marco has probably figured out whether they have permission or not to stay for a while by now knowing him, and that doctor guy has probably said yes because it’s pretty obvious that the Whitebeard Pirates aren’t bad people. And because Marco is good at glaring.

Ace wants to know why the islanders don’t like Toshinori. Because it’s obvious that they don’t. He could always ask, but...

_Actually nah he’s just gonna ask.  
  
_

Tomorrow, though, like he’s already decided. He takes another bite, stands up, brushes off his clothes, and wanders over to Vista who’s waving him over.

..

“So Toshinori,” Ace steps out of seemingly nowhere while Toshinori is collecting firewood in the forest near his house, “why don’t the islanders like you?” He’s chewing on a drumstick.

Toshinori makes a very unmanly noise, chokes on air, and after, instantly clamps his mouth shut. His cheek muscles tense, and he turns away, flustered and surprised. More sticks are added to his stick pile. He decisively doesn’t even try to even find an answer, because _what?_ _Who would ask someone that?_

He knows it’s impolite to not answer a question, but he genuinely doesn’t know how to answer this one. Really...!

“From the look of things, you know it too.” 

They’re both standing in a forest on the edge tree line, a few paces away from the edge of a cliff that tips into the ocean. The area is full of the twittering of birds.

Toshinori’s shoulders hitch up ever so slightly, and he busies himself with removing a snail from a stick. His mind has gone blank — he knows that he should be saying something. To perhaps defend himself, or the islanders. To say that it isn’t true. But Ace is right because he does know that a large portion of them don’t like him. He’s been working on it.

But the fact that apparently their shared dislike towards him is so obvious... it’s _disconcerting_ , to say the least. Once more, he keeps his mouth shut.

“Not gonna judge you for anything,” Ace wanders a short step away to a fallen rotted tree and takes a seat. “I’ve done pretty bad things, and so have my siblings. Hell, Pops has too. Definitely Pops.”

Done bad things? _He hasn’t done bad things!_ But then he remembers the vase all those years ago, and something in him falls. Perhaps it wasn’t such a gigantic act of violence, but he _has_ hurt someone before. Someone he didn’t mean to. Understandably, the islanders don’t like him. Something in him, like always, tells him that it _still isn’t fair_ and that things were bad way _before_ the vase.

But Toshinori has already sworn to protect his village. It’s a promise already made. He picks up another dry stick and pretends he doesn’t notice it snap through the centre.

“Once,” Ace continues, sounding like he hasn’t a care in the world, “Pops caused a dormant volcano on some island in Paradise to erupt. No one died, and who the hell knows how he managed it, but I was told that the islanders were pretty pissed about it. We’re barred from that island now. We got some rocks though, as souvenirs.”

Gran Torino, like the islanders, used to act rudely towards him. But Gran Torino also liked him. Probably. He just wasn’t that good at showing it. Perhaps that applies here.

Toshinori places a final stick onto his pile and then wraps them up in twine to hold to his waist. He draws himself up to his full height and meets Ace’s eyes. Ace pauses to look at him with a friendly smile. “You know,” Ace draws out when it’s clear that Toshinori isn’t about to walk off, “Pops likes you a lot already. I reckon if I asked him, he wouldn’t mind bringing you along with us. But I still want that fight before we go.”

“I’m not leaving,” Toshinori says shortly. His smile is back on his face, but it’s not a friendly one in the slightest. Nor is it hostile. He recognises that Ace is trying to be friendly, but he doesn’t need to offer that! “I made a promise to stay here and protect the islanders.”

“Even if they don’t like you?” It’s not said in a mean way. He hasn’t seemed angry or pitiful or accusing in the slightest thus far. It appears sort of like Ace is struggling to understand him.

“It doesn’t matter.” Who even says they don’t like him? “It’s a promise I’m keeping.” 

His mother may be gone, and his father may be forever neutral, but the promise wasn’t made with ‘technicalities’ or ‘but if’s.’ It’s a _promise_. Toshinori thinks of Young Midoriya, not for the first time, and thinks of what he would do. Young Midoriya was hated because he was quirkless, but he didn’t run away.

Young Midoriya fought against the odds. He will too.

“Promises aren’t meant to be like this,” Ace says lowly, but now it sounds like he understands.

“But I’ve already made it. After what I did... it’s no wonder that the islanders do not like me.”

“What’d you do?”

“Perhaps it’s more... the way I am. It doesn’t really...” he trails off, nervous.

“Huh?”

Toshinori swallows, draws the corners of his lips up higher, and turns away. It’s not very polite and he feels bad about it but he walks in the direction of his house with the full intention to not say another word.

“Come on, it’s not like I’ll judge you. I’ve probably done a million worse things already.”

He won’t say another word, but. Toshinori pauses, draws up his shoulders, and turns to Ace one last time. He picks up the hand not holding the firewood to his chest, draws it slightly behind him.

He balls his first.

He then turns to the ocean on the edge of the tree line, and he _punches_.

Like always, it’s a strong one. The ocean rips apart, and water floods to the left and right as the very horizon seems to tear. The wind picks up, and clouds in the distance separate. Like the sea before Moses, the ocean floor is visible. 

Then after a brief pause, the ocean collides together and the centre rises high into the air, only to fall back down in a watery collision. The ocean shakes and shakes, and Ace watches until an uneasy silence lulls over the area. The twittering of the birds, something he hadn’t been paying attention to before now, is gone.

It’s quiet. Ace turns to find Toshinori, his mouth wide and startled beyond all hell, but he’s gone.

“Holy shit!”

..

Toshinori wanders over to his stone fireplace and piles the wood next to it. It’s not like it’s too cold outside yet, but it’s always good to be prepared! He orders it nicely and settles back, satisfied, to look over the area. It’s nice and tidy. He’s the number one hero — or well, he was — and so the best is what is required of him.

He prepares to purge his encounter with the pirate from earlier out of his head, only to briefly look out the window and gawk as Ace stands there, casually and confidently, leaning in with his face in his hands and his elbows on the window frame as if he owns it.

“So, you gonna explain that at all for me?”

Toshinori freezes in place, hesitant and bewildered.

“No?” Ace raises an eyebrow, “you rarely see that kind of strength, even in the New World. So why do you have it when you _live in the middle of nowhere?”_

He wishes he knew. “I answered your question, didn’t I?”

“Did you really? Did you eat a Devil-fruit?”

“No.”

“No? Cool. Now you’ve got to join the Whitebeards!” Huh?! 

Toshinori sweats nervously, “I made a promise.”

“The promise is shit.”

“I... I don’t like the ocean!”

“Oh, so that’s why your house’s right next to it?"

“I like the islanders.”

“Do you?”

Toshinori draws his shoulders up. “Why do you even...” he stops himself. Does he even want to know the answer? It’s times like these that he wishes he had the same conviction as Young Midoriya. What would he do in this situation? Close the window blinds? He doesn’t have any window blinds.

No. He wouldn’t, Young Midoriya is too polite to do that. He’d probably stand up to his full height and declare that the islanders are good people. Toshinori would do the same, but... 

It’s villainous to have thoughts like these. He’s ashamed. 

“‘Cos you’re nice, and strong too. And you’d get along with us. It’s unfair that you’re treated like this. Also because I wanna fight you.”

“You can fight me without me joining you.”

“Not without you destroying your island, we’d be better off finding a deserted one to fight on. _You didn’t even use Haki before!_ I mean, holy _shit_!”

“What’s Haki?”

Ace grins widely. “Cool power stuff, I’ll teach you if you join!”

“I... I cannot.”

Ace dramatically groans, and his arms lay flat against the windowsill extended into the house while his chin slumps against the wood. He squints up into Toshinori’s eyes. “Cmon! What’ll it take to convince you?”

“I promised that I would keep this island safe,” he says. “I cannot do that if I leave with you.”

“Who says you can’t? We’ll find a way.”

Toshinori sighs. The brunt of the matter is that he doesn’t really know Ace or his family. Even if he does go with them, even if somehow they find something or someone to protect the island, that doesn’t mean that he can trust them.   
  


He worked with the people he did in his last life because he knew for a fact that he could trust them. There was corruption in the ranks, but Toshinori was never corrupt and neither were the people who he reported directly to. Perhaps he doesn’t know for certain whether or not he wasn’t corrupt, as that’s not something you judge for yourself. But he doesn’t think he was! 

If he were to join these people, who was to say that they wouldn’t try to use him for their nefarious purposes? He wouldn’t mind helping people, but who was to say that Whitebeard was infallible? Toshinori is strong, but he doesn’t know much about how this new world works. It would be easy to use Toshinori for something that he wouldn’t know the true effect of. It’s easy to tell that the Moby Dick has a hierarchy, and if he potentially (hypothetically) joined, he’d be nowhere near the top.

“I trust you as much as I trust the villagers,” he mumbles to himself without thinking. “So why should I go along with you?”

“Aha!” Ace points to him, “so you admit that you don’t trust them!”

Toshinori blanches, Ace has completely missed what he's trying to say. “It doesn’t matter either way!”

“It does! Why shouldn’t it? You were raised here you know, and even if I left my island I still like the people there! Even Dadan, and she’s halfway to being a troll. I like my people back at home! Well, not the nobles but let’s be honest nobody—“

“But I don’t!” Toshinori blurts out. He immediately freezes. 

How _awful_ of him! He clenches his fists and his smile is cautious. He is surprised by himself, but not surprised by the words. In the end, even if he is a strong pillar, he is a very flawed one too. He knows that he should be like Young Midoriya — unfaltering and stubborn, but he is not Young Midoriya. He knows that he should protect the people around him, he should protect the people who can’t protect themselves!

_But he doesn’t like the islanders._ They’re... they’re _not nice_. He used to tell himself, when he was young, that they were good people. And you know, maybe a few are. But not all of them. Sometimes he hoped that if he said that enough, that all were good and all liked him, then they would truly become good people to him. Even if they looked at him weirdly, if he just stuck with the conviction that they were secretly good, then maybe they were!

But then he turned four, and nothing changed. It just got _worse_. He is a hero of peace, and he does his best, but to see those looks aimed at him day after day, from the people around him and then slowly from his parents — how _could he like them?_ He has _never_ thrived off his fame, but he has never thrived off unconcealed dislike either! He has to admit, that even if he knows that by all means, he should like the people around him, he does _not_.

How could he? Toshinori looks away from Ace and makes to run away and hide in the kitchen in shame, but a hand on his shoulder makes him turn back around. Ace, having apparently crawled through the window, stands before him with a sad look on his face. 

“You know, you don’t _have_ to like the people who you grew up with. I have a few siblings who hate the people they were with.”

But I should, he wants to say, but he doesn’t voice it. He’s a symbol — he’s meant to be forgiving and compassionate and strong. “It’s because I look different,” is what he says instead.

“Huh?”

Ace looks at him like he hasn’t actually expected an explanation. Toshinori sighs. What had he honestly expected, after being this pushy? Well, it’s too late now, Toshinori has already started to address things. Toshinori scratches his cheek awkwardly and wanders over to his nearby couch. He sits down and gestures for Ace to join him, which he does with a rather bemused expression.

“Im answering your questions from earlier. I’m sure you’ve noticed, I don’t look like anyone around here. Not even my parents. It’s common for people to wonder whether I am a... bastard, or if I was stolen or replaced as a baby. The islanders are superstitious as well as confused by my colouring, so I have never been well-liked.”

Ace nods encouragingly.

“When I was four, I punched a vase and it was lodged into the ceiling,” he continues.

“Oh, cool!” The unfiltered admiration surprises Toshinori and he lets out a startled laugh, then he blushes. It’s badly placed in this conversation, but the sheer delight in Ace’s expression just makes it so easy to react this way.

“It uhm, unfortunately, injured my mother as well. After that, many islanders, even the ones who aren’t superstitious or were usually caring of other family matters, have grown to be wary of me. It especially hasn’t helped that I train a lot! Although, some are rather grateful that I’m helping with farmwork...” he fidgets with his fingers.

“Shit luck,” Ace acknowledges. “So you should come with us.”

“ _It’s not that simple!_ ” 

“Yeah, it is! Your people suck, so come with us. I’ll tell Pops about it and he’ll be practically at your heels. Hell, our whole crew will!”

“But—“

“And you’re strong! I bet everyone on the boat is wondering why the ocean split, if I tell them you did it they’ll want you even more.”

Toshinori doesn’t know how to react to Ace’s acceptance. He’s taken everything in stride, and not for the first time Toshinori wonders at his unfaltering bright personality. 

“I,” and then Toshinori pauses, the words mixed upon his tongue. “I have still made a promise. I can’t break it, it doesn’t matter whether I like them or not. I’ve sworn to protect them, and —“

“Oh is that it?” Ace twists his finger in his ear.

What does he _mean is that —_

“ — No problem, we can just have the island underneath Whitebeard protection.”

Underneath what? Ace has said it as if it’s the simplest solution, but Toshinori doesn’t know what ‘Whitebeard protection’ means. What is it, exactly? A promise to visit every month or so? Year? And what if something happens when they’re not here? What if having people visit more often is dangerous rather than good? What if the Whitebeards are famous, and people hear of the island and try to find it?

He also still doesn’t know if he can even trust them! Toshinori crosses his arms and looks into Ace’s eyes wearily. “And what does that mean?”

“Well,” Ace draws out, “our crew is made up of thousands of people, and it has branches too. Like Marco, the birdman from earlier,” Toshinori scrunches up his nose briefly in confusion, “he’s head of the first division which means he has a couple hundred or so, and I’m head of the second and I’ve got around the same number, and then we have a couple more divisions I’m not sure of the exact number... anyway, we can have a small ship visit now and then.”

“And who’s going to agree to this? Your captain has only met me once, and I don’t know whether he would care too much about this island after only being here a day.” He doesn’t like being interrogative but he has to know.

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to meet him again! Wanna go now? Suns around the middle of the sky so everyone should be up by now ‘xept the people on the night shift. You can get to know your new crewmates!”

“I’m not joining!”

“Yeah, sure,” Ace waves it off. Toshinori splutters and follows Ace as he stands up and wanders over to the nearby open window. Ace crawls through without blinking as if travelling through windows rather than doors is normal in any capacity. He then walks a few paces and turns to face Toshinori with his hands on his hips and an eyebrow raised. “C’mon.”

Toshinori just blinks at the window. There’s a leaf on the floor just before the window. “I’m not going to fit through the window.”

“Yeah you can! What do you mean, just turn your body a bit? If your head can fit through then your body can fit through, it’s just logic.”

“That’s... not true.”

“I’ll prove you wrong. Come to the window, I’ll help pull you.”

“It’s not going to work!”

“Might as well try.”

“Ace, I’m not going to fit through the window-frame! Ah, stop pulling!”

Ace frowns and lets go of his arm. “Put your legs through.”

Toshinori coughs and nervously sits on the windowsill, easily swinging his legs to exit outdoors. He probably can fit through the window, but he’ll have to draw his shoulders in. So he does and wiggles a bit and sure enough, he’s standing outside of his house. It’s only as his feet move a step to follow after Ace that he realises that in the confuddlement of Ace convincing him to squeeze through the frame, he’d completely forgotten that his house has a door. Two actually. One is three steps away, as a matter of fact.

Ace turns around with a large grin and prepares to lead him down from the cliff-side area. Toshinori covers his pink face. If Young Midoriya could see him now...! How embarrassing!

..

“You’ve already gotten a tour and all that,” Ace says as they move through the village to the docks, “so you’ll just be talking to people. Saying hi and all that. I’ll lead I guess.”

“I see,” although he doesn’t know why he’s doing this. Some part of him wonders if he truly will want to go with the Whitebeards or not, but if he is going to decide yes, then it’ll have to be with the knowledge that they’re good and trustworthy people. Something he can’t forget is that they’re _pirates_. “How many are there?”

“Oh, you know.” Ace looks at a beetle as it flies by. “Our crew, like I said, is split up into different boats and stuff. But on the Moby Dick you’ll only need to introduce yourself for the moment to..." his voice lowers to a mumble and Toshinori cranes his ears to listen but doesn’t hear.

“Sorry? Please repeat yourself.”

“800,” he says after some hesitation.

“Will I have to know all their names?” It’s not like he’s going to sail with them for certain anyway. But he knows that he’ll try to be polite. He’ll do his best to, even if Ace says no.

“Nah. Even I don’t know all their names!” He laughs to himself. 

Ace is probably concerned that it’ll be too many people for Toshinori to talk to and it might overwhelm him or put him off, but what Ace doesn’t know is that Toshinori has lived once before and as such has experience with a lot of people. He knows about speaking to and going through shocking amounts of reporters. Civilians, hero students. 800 people is not a lot. But he will admittedly have a bit of trouble with the names at first.

At first? He nervously fidgets with his fingers again. Some part of him wants to go with them. But especially now, walking through the village and seeing the expressions aimed at him, he’s tempted. Toshinori notices his father speaking to someone, with his back facing him, and immediately looks to the front and pretends he hasn’t seen him.

“Ace!” Someone shouts, and Toshinori sees an unfamiliar man jog over to him with excitement in his eyes. “Did you see the sea part earlier? It was wicked! The Moby was shaking for minutes after! You should’ve seen Marco, he looked like he was having a conniption. It’s moments like these it sucks to be the navigator, eh?” 

“Oh, yeah!” Ace grins, “Toshinori did it. He didn’t use Haki either. He also says he didn’t eat a devil fruit.”

The man freezes, the smile on his face reads ‘excitement’ but his eyes read ‘terror.’ “Sorry?”

“Toshinori did it, I was next to him. He just punched and then boom. Pretty cool, huh? Oh, Toshinori, this is Jerry. Jerry, Toshinori.”

“My name is Jeffrey,” Jeffrey says on autopilot. “Nice to meet you.” His voice raises, “what do you _mean_ he parted the sea with a punch? Without... _without_...! He even split the _clouds_! We were thinking it was some sort of tyrannical sea king that taught itself armament Haki.”

“Ask him.”

Jeffrey turns to Toshinori in awe and shock. “How?”

Toshinori grins widely. “I punched,” he explains. “I’ve always been rather strong.”

“Huh? How? That isn’t natural!” It’s not said offensively so Toshinori politely doesn’t take it as such, “how can you do that? I mean I can see you have muscles but no way in hell can you just do that! We're in the middle of nowhere! Who taught you? How can you do what you...? It doesn’t make sense!”

Ace scratches his chin and mumbles to himself, “I knew I forgot to ask something.”

Jeffrey turns to face Ace with a gaping mouth, “what do you _mean you forgot—_ “

“It’s an ability I awakened on my fourth birthday,” Toshinori quickly explains in an attempt to encourage Jeffrey to stop freaking out, “I’m strong. It’s not genetic, I just have it. I don’t understand how either.” He doesn’t bother explaining that it’s a stockpile quirk, as that most likely meant explaining that he was reborn. And explaining what quirks are. The whole thing is an impossibility.

“Oh you’re _strong_ , are you?” He says hysterically. “Do you know Haki? I know you apparently didn’t use it, but do you?”

“No,” he says apologetically. He knows the basic idea — actually not really but sort of — he doesn’t have it. “But Ace has told me he’d teach me.” He’s pretty sure the option is only open if he joins, however.

“Becoming a pirate was a mistake, I can’t believe this...” Jeffrey kneads the crease between his eyebrows and wanders away without another word, in the direction of the Moby. After a few steps, he starts sprinting.

Ace turns to Toshinori and mutters under his breath that it’s most likely everyone will know by the afternoon. Toshinori takes it as an acknowledgment that gossip runs wild on the Moby, which Toshinori smiles wider at. He remembers the media. Ah, the media! Nearly as much gossip as UA after Valentine’s Day.

They continue up to the beach, the official ‘docks,’ without another altercation. Once they’re both in the little row boat, Ace turns to him with a smug grin. “It’s nice that you’re considering joining.”

  
Toshinori looks away. “I never said that.”

“You agreed to meet my 800 siblings. If that’s not consideration I don’t know what is!” After a moment of hesitation, Toshinori turns back to face him. The way Ace is smiling makes him feel nervous, and he’s not sure why. It’s not a villainous smile or anything. 

“Ace, Toshinori, yoi!” 

Toshinori and Ace look up the railing of the Moby, only to find Marco peering over the edge at them with a concerned frown. “Yeah?” Ace bellows up at him. Toshinori smiles politely.

“You split the ocean earlier, Toshinori? No Haki, no fruit?” 

“Yes.” Ace was right when he mentioned the gossip.

Marco sighs dramatically as Ace ties the dingy to the side of the Moby. “I hope you’re ready,” Marco calls down to Toshinori, “to either climb up here or run. Because Pops heard. He wants you to join.”

“Ha!” Ace meets Toshinori’s slightly horrified face with a grin, “I didn’t even have to convince him!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you have any suggestions for how the fic should proceed


End file.
